Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/277

Rh Rolfe Bolling to answer Major Taylor's knock. His feet in woolen socks, with no shoes, he padded to the front door and opened it to his visitor.

As the two old men entered the sitting room Aunt Peachy crept from the kitchen, slid along the hall, taking her stand at the half-closed door, where she stood in the shadow, eagerly listening to the conversation between her master and Major Taylor.

The master of Mill House immediately stated the cause of his visit, explaining that his son had told him what he had heard when he had driven over to The Hedges to get Rebecca.

"I am sure my father bought the property later on from your father, when he decided to enlarge the plant—that was before either one of us was born. I believe we are about the same age. My father told me of the transaction. I will be frank with you and tell you that as far as I know there is no record extant of the transaction, owing to the fact that when the Yankees attempted to burn the court house some of the deed books disappeared. On investigation, I find that the very one that must have held the deed conveying the land where my hub factory stands is missing. My father's papers were not carefully filed and I do not remember seeing